Reel Affirmations 2007

Chacun Sa Nuit

I’LL SAY ONE thing for Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr’s drama: It has perhaps the most impossibly beautiful young cast I have ever seen in a film at Reel Affirmations. They’re blindingly gorgeous, and they seem to enjoy spending a copious amount of time copulating or just lounging around naked, all their bits and pieces dangling about.

But this film about five young friends — one girl, four boys — whose lives have been informed by pornography is a droning bore. It’s fraught with narrative problems, not to mention a stillborn pacing that may play well in Europe, but is likely to put an American audience into a catatonic state.

The story plays out mainly from the point of view of Lucie (Lizzie Brocheré), a seductive young spirit who has a special ”let’s get naked” relationship with her charismatic, sexually-supercharged brother, Pierre (Arthur Dupont). The other three boys, who play in a rock band with Pierre, are similarly sexually engaged, either with Lucie, or with Pierre, or with both.

Pierre is an erotic being, an object of extreme sensuality and desire. He knows he’s irresistible, but he’s also insecure, constantly asking his sister to count the ways in which he’s beautiful. Pierre lives by the philosophy that ”only a body can know another body,” and, boy, does his body ever get to know them all. But when Pierre’s body turns up in a field, mangled and beaten, Lucie sets out on a search for the killer of her brother.

The story lurches clumsily between present day and past events, and in the final 20 minutes or so finally turns gripping. It’s a brief respite, as the directors’ failure to provide a satisfactory resolution deflates everything.

Despite the gorgeous cast, the abundant sex, and the dreamy French countryside setting, chances are good One to Another will leave you feeling tres blasé. — RS